Project description
Growing the genetic resources of seedless grapes
From white-green to red and dark blue, the table grape is one of the largest fruit markets in Europe. Grapes are one of the most demanded fruit in Europe. The seedless varieties are most popular. The EU-funded GRAPEINNOVATION project will work to expand the genetic resources of seedlessness in grapevine. The objective of this is to increase genetic diversity and contribute a source of innovation in combining valuable traits for breeding of elite table and raisin grape cultivars. Specifically, the project will adopt a multidisciplinary approach to identify seedless genotypes from diverse origins. The findings will shed light on the genetic and molecular basis of parthenocarpy and its use in the production of table and raisin seedless varieties.
Objective
Nowadays situation in the EU and global table grape market with out of season fresh or raisin produce is quite challenging: grape growers meet a rapidly increasing interest and different demands for appreciated quality traits. Table grape production rapidly shifted from seeded grapes to a seedless which is greatly prized by consumers, commercially valuable agronomic trait and a new trend both for fresh grapes and raisins production. Due to advances in technology and possibility to use different sources of seedlessness with different genetic backgrounds this field has the potential for rapid transformation in the table grapevine production especially relevant in EU and Armenia. The general goal of GRAPEINNOVATION is to widen the genetic sources of seedlessness in grapevine, as a contribution to increase the genetic diversity and as a source of innovation in combining valuable traits for breeding of elite table and raisin grape cultivars. In this proposal I will perform a multidisciplinary approach to understand the cellular, genetic and molecular basis of seedlessness in different grapevine variants. I plan to identify seedless genotypes from diverse origins and to shed light on the genetic and molecular basis of parthenocarpy and its use in the production of table and raisins seedless varieties. In this way, I will open a plethora of possibilities for my future research and career. Grapevine genetic resources with different sources of seedlessness can be valuable material for the improvement of table grape production, competitiveness of breeding programs promoting the economic growth and national agriculture autonomy in EU and Armenia. The proposed project will be implemented in the VITIGEN research groups at the Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino (ICVV) (Logrono, Spain) belonging to Agencia Estatal CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas) and with a secondment in the Agriculture, Food and Environment Center at the University of Trento, Italy.
Fields of science
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
28006 Madrid
Spain